Big Lottery Fund: Small grants for big change.

Thursday, 13 September 2007 12:00 AM

Big Lottery Fund is today making £50,888 worth of grants to a range of UK based NGOs that work to improve the lives of some of the most disadvantaged people across the globe. Grants awarded today will fund research and feasibility studies that will form a basis for future long-term development projects.

The funding comes from BIG's £72 million International Grants programme, set up to support the vital work of the UK's international development charities in their efforts to help some of the poorest and most marginalised people around the world to work their way out of poverty.

There are currently 108,000 Bhutanese refugees living in camps in eastern Nepal since the early 1990s. They are heavily dependant on ever-dwindling aid assistance, having fled ethnically discriminatory policies and political repression in their home country. Refugee Youth Project receives £9,950 for a project that will identify and reach the most vulnerable children in the camps. Children-refugees will plan, implement and evaluate activities in each refugee camp, with the support of adult assistants and agency project workers, which will form the basis for a larger project based on the success of pilot activities.

Ongoing wars and environmental disasters in Sudan has led to many refugees and displaced people fleeing to the relative safety of Khartoum, putting a huge strain on local health and social care services. Sudanese Mothers For Peace gets £9,800 to conduct a thorough assessment of available healthcare services in Khartoum in order to identify skills gaps and training needs of Traditional Birth Attendants. Trainees from the programme will provide and maintain health promotion and education campaign on hygiene and sanitation, prevention and management of malaria, HIV/AIDS and TB, reproductive health including contraception, first aid and healthy eating.

Sir Clive Booth, Chair of the Big Lottery Fund said: "Careful planning is essential for the success of any long-term project. The funding awarded today will help organisations sharpen their thinking, clarify the existing situations on the ground and plan the projects in such a way that will ensure their sustainability, ultimately bringing maximum benefits for disadvantaged communities overseas. This is truly a case of how relatively small sums of money can make a huge difference."

A total of six UK-based organisations have secured funding from BIG today. The full list of awarded grants below:

Uganda Aids Action Fund, Research in Masaka region project, Middlesex

The feasibility study will analyse the current organisational capabilities of community and faith based organisations in the Masaka district of Uganda. It will also look at the possibility of creating an organisation that will be exclusively responsible for providing support, guidance and management expertise for community-based groups that offer HIV/AIDS support.

£9,800

Sudanese Mothers For Peace, Community Based Action Research project, London

The project will conduct a community based research exercise in Khartoum to ensure that internally displaced Sudanese women and children are able to access appropriate and affordable paediatric and reproductive healthcare.
£9,800

SuNaRMA, Research on Ethiopian and Forest Based Pastoralist Issues project,Devon

Ethiopia has a growing population and this is putting great pressure on its natural resources, particularly fertile land, water and wood. The project will undertake research amongst local communities to better understand the deforestation of the Wof Washa Forest, Ethiopia and its impact in order to find a solution for more sustainable use.

£10,000

Refugee Youth Project, Further Research into Working with Bhutanese Refugee Children, Oxford

A innovative youth-led project will conduct research with children in Bhutanese refugee camps in eastern Nepal, in order to develop the most effective project working with these children.
£9,950

Aegis Trust, Research and Analysis to Assess the Need for the Creation of a Hostel in Rwanda, Newark

The research will look at the impact on the young survivors of genocide in Rwanda, Africa. It will complete a detailed analysis of the needs of the young survivors and the possibility of creating a purpose built hostel to provide a measure of security and stability that has not been available.
£7,885

Soliana Mother and Child Centre, Collating Up-to-date Information to Identify Key Changes in Gudo Beret, Greenford

The project aims to undertake research and analysis to collate up-to-date information, which will compliment the preliminary needs assessment studies. The research project will further explore the socio-economic situation and define groups at greatest disadvantage and will examine the impact of a 'sustainable targeted intervention' on people struggling to cope in this harsh rural region of Ethiopia. This research project will ultimately lead to a multi-purpose village centre.

Big Lottery Fund Press Office: 020 7211 1888
Out of hours contact: 07867 500 572
Public Enquiries Line: 08454 102030
Textphone: 0845 6021 659

Full details of the Big Lottery Fund programmes and grant awards are available on the website: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk

Notes to Editors

• The Big Lottery Fund rolls out close to £2 million in Lottery good cause money every 24 hours, which together with other Lottery distributors means that across the UK most people are within a few miles of a Lottery-funded project.

• The Big Lottery Fund, the largest of the National Lottery good cause distributors, has been rolling out grants to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK since its inception in June 2004. It was established by Parliament on 1 December 2006.

• Since the National Lottery began in 1994, 28p from every pound spent by the public has gone to Good Causes. As a result, over £20 billion has now been raised and more than 250,000 grants given out across the arts, sport, heritage, charities, health, education and the environment.

Tags: